On Broken Wings
by Ecki
Summary: Dedicated to my dark muse, Oni and Subaki-chan for the inspiration. This is a stand alone story, but can be regarded as continuation to "I Am Not In Love". Still don't own Skip Beat. I do own and live with Valentine, the bearded dragon. Ren x Kyoko


Lory Takarada, the President of LME, Inc is plotting something. There are still photos from Sho Fuwa's latest PV, "Requiem to Innocence" strewned all over the coffe table in his monumental office. Director Shingai sat across from the president in the overstuffed loveseat, drinking scotch on the rock while looking very relaxed. "So, this is what you wanted that girl for, huh?" said Takarada, while stroking his goatee that goes quite well with his outfit today. Today's theme is Australian Outback. The president had khaki safari shirt and shorts with a white belt, along with knee length woolen socks, a pair of yellow tan colored boots and a beautiful brown fedora with one side bent up. "Is it really necessary to have a bearded dragon running around the office." said Director Shingai, upon being startled by a full sized specimen of said dragon. "Yes. I called him Valentine. His handler is on staff, don't worry. He goes home tonight." said the overtly enthused Lory. "At least, I didn't bring in the crocodile." Yeah! That was too bad. The president pouted for a moment, cause he really did try to get the permit okayed for a crocodile to be brought in.

Director Shingai stared at Lory with saucer round eyes full of shock. A servant dressed like an Australian straight from the outback, poured Director Shingai another round of scotch, which he downed pretty quickly. "What's this PV called?" said President Takarada. "It's called Requiem to Innocence." the director answered after having his glass filled with scotch again. "The story is about a pair of archangels fighting for their love against the demon lord." then, the director took a sip of his drink. "You got her to play the love interest to Sho Fuwa's angel and even got Ren to play the demon lord." observed Takarada looking at a picture of Kyoko in the white angel outfit, and then another picture of Ren in the demon lord outfit. He looked at the group shots of Kyoko with Sho and Kyoko with Ren. Then, he looked at the group shots of Sho and Ren in the battle scenes. He hmmmed at the pictures of the waltz scenes between Kyoko and Ren. He looked at Kyoko's angel pictures again, "That child does look absolutely stunning in that outfit, doesn't she!" At that moment, some gears in the president's head started moving and big wheels keep on turning. Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. Actually, no. But, a light bulb went on though, and the president took it down and put it above the pictures so he can see them better.

He took a close look at the still shots of the scene where the angel Kyoko was caught between angel Sho and demon lord Ren. He held it up to Director Shingai, "This is a particular lovely shot of her." Director Shingai nodded in agreement. "She is one of my favorite people." said Director Shingai. President Takarada raised one of his eyebrow at the comment. "That's a rarity for you to say that, considering your reputation for being super strict." Director Shingai shifted in his seat in embarassment. "I wonder if I can perhaps buy the entire outfit for Kyoko as a surprise present." pondered out loud at Director Shingai, hoping that he would get a hint, knowing how sharp the director is. "Well, it's in post production. We're just shooting some last minute scenes with Sho singing to be cut into the rest of the video." opined the director, getting the hint loud and cleared. "I am sure if I said something to Akatoki Agency, I'm sure they'll be willing to let it go for monetary compensation." President Takarada cheered up quite considerably. "Well, then here is the company credit card, and get the dress for me, and I want everything that she wore for the video to be packed up and send it here." the president paused for a moment, "In fact, I would like a private chat with Fuwa-kun, if you can arrange it for him to come around tomorrow. Especially, if he could bring the outfit along with him."

Sho walked into LME, Inc at 2pm sharp with Shoko in tow. He has several bags with contents of Kyoko's outfit from the PV in them. A well groomed man servant with a very dark tan bowed to the duo. "Shoko-san, I'm here to show Fuwa-kun the way to the President's office. You may wait for him at our cafe, LA Hearts. The cafe features some recipes recently innovated by one of our staff, Kyoko-san of the LoveMe section." he bowed once more. "This way, Fuwa-kun!" said the man servant, as they go up the giant curved stairway and then entered an elevator that only goes to the President's office. After that, the servant bowed and left Sho in the hallway in front of the opened double door of the president's office. Inside, the decors were of the late Victorian age, and a man with short coat and a smoking cap spoked with a cigar in his mouth. "Ah, Fuwa-kun! Just the man I want to see." said President Takarada. Sho looked at the funny looking clothes the president has on and barely could contain his anger. The only thing that visibly shows his mood is the one right eye brow that keeps on twitching. "You even brought the presents for our Kyoko-chan. How sweet of you!" quipped the president, clearly mocking Sho-baka for his discomfort.

An hour later, Sho was ready to leave since the additional scenes are being filmed the same afternoon around 4pm. Lory took a look at the impatient boy and said, "You know, Fuwa-kun. It would be pretty bad for me to be seen showing favoritism. I was wondering if you could do me the favor of personally delivering the presents to Kyoko-chan herself. Lory got on the phone to Sawara-san, and had arranged with him to have Moko running some errands, so that Kyoko is alone. "She's available now!" said the President showing him a slip with the handwritten location of Kyoko. Sho walked out onto the elevator and down a couple of floors to the Acting section of LME, feeling like he's being manipulated.

Yashiro walked into the cafe, LA Hearts to get himself a nice sweet cup of french mocha, when he spotted Shoko having a slice of Kyoko's creation, an anko cheesecake. "Shoko-san, what are you doing here?" quizzed the ever inquisitive Yashiro. "Oh, Yashiro-san! What a pleasant surprise?" said Shoko, getting up to acknowledge Yashiro's presence. Yashiro sat down at Shoko's table with his cup of french mocha. "I'm here waiting for Sho, he has an appointment with Takarada-san for a private meeting and he's to deliver something to Kyoko." answered Shoko with a very beautiful smile.

Yashiro panicked at the thought that Sho is here to take Kyoko from Ren. Yashiro smiled back at Shoko with all the confidence he could muster. "Pardon me, I need to go now. I came ahead of Ren to get things ready for him." He walked off in a hurry to meet Ren whom just walked in at the front door of LME. "Ren, I just heard some horrible news." Yashiro said to Ren in a tizzy. "What is it? Not some gossip about Mogami-san is it?" asked Ren, without betraying his interest. "Sho is here." said Yashiro, and before Ren could react, "And, according to Shoko-san, whom I just talked to, he's with Kyoko right now." Ren, with all his might, and a lot of self control, asked "Why would he be here? He's not even part of LME." Yashiro looked at him with slitted eyes, "You really need to take this more seriously. What if he's here to take Kyoko-chan away?" The more Yashiro talked about it, the more riled Ren became. "Let's go and talk to Sawara-san get to the bottom of the truth." Ren started taking full advantage of his long leg to get to the elevator. Yashiro barely made into the elevator in time, secretly smiling.

Sho walked down a couple of hallways and spotted the unmistakeable back, of the said unforgettable pink cloud, Kyoko Mogami. She was rather occuppied with cleaning the particular hallway after a rehearsal for one of the new shows. It was full of paper tossed about and spilled drinks. He tapped her shoulder, and next thing you know, Kyoko was hanging from the ceiling like an upside down cat. "Sho-baka, what are you doing? Go back to your own agency. This one is mine." screamed Kyoko at the top of her lungs. Sho started to get pretty angry. "You know you should be grateful that my PV is about to make you known and I'm just dropping this off for you." said Sho.

Kyoko saw the bags with all sorts of boxes that Sho was holding. She started getting really curious and then "Are you trying to make fun of me? You think that I could be bought with some presents and I'll go back to you." said with the meanest expression she possesses. "I'm not that cheap!" Sho felt a sharp stabbing pain in his chest from the comment that used to show how shallow Sho was to Kyoko. "I really just want to give this to you." said Sho with sadness in his eyes. "I really am sorry for the way I used to treat you. Can't we just let the past go and start everything new." Kyoko blushed at his confession. She grabbed his wrist and started dragging him down the hall to the spare meeting room.

She closed the door and turned to Sho, " Why are you here? I need to get back to work?" Sho looked uncomfortable for a moment and said "Here! I promised the president of LME, to give you this." said Sho proffered the bag in apology. Kyoko became even more curious at the mentioning of the president. "He asked me for a private meeting today and told me to bring this to you. It's a present for you from him." Kyoko wondered why would the president go through all these trouble just to send her something. "Here, open the biggest box first. I already now what's in it." said Sho in a cracked whisper. Kyoko in stunned silence, moved to take the biggest box out of the bag. Sho put his arm around her shoulder and said "You'll like it. I thought you looked really beautiful, the first time I saw you in it." prompting her to open it.

Kyoko with blushed with confusion, opened the box. It contained the white laced dressed she wored in the PV with Sho and Ren. She puts both of her hands to her mouth to keep from eeping out loud. "It's the angel dress." said Kyoko, with strained whisper. "There is more than just the dress." said Sho, looking at her flushed from being overwhelmed. Sho wondered if she would be flushed like that from having being thoroughly kissed and made love to. "It's all the things you wore from the video. It's all there, the shoes, the earrings, the choker, the corsage. But, there is something else."

Ren rushed out of Sawara-san's office, slightly out of character of his usual gentle facade, looking for Kyoko. When he heard some noise that resembled Kyoko from the spare meeting room. The scene he saw when he opened the door broke his heart. His Kyoko with another man's arm around her shoulder. He saw the flush on her face that has no explanation for. He saw boxes of open presents and his heart dropped ever so far to his feet. He made a noise to announce his presence in the spare meeting room. "Tsuruga-san!" gasped Kyoko in surprise. "Mogami-san, would you like to explain this?" asked Ren with his most sparkliest. most stunning smiles that would have been accompanied by roses or orchids if he was in a manga. "Why is Sho Fuwa here?" Kyoko tried to find a way to say something without making it sound worse than it already is for the situation. "Sho came to drop this off for me from the president." said Kyoko, slightly, no very much shaken from the impact of that smile.

The truth would be the least hurtful thing to say, she reminded herself. "I see! You don't need any assistance, then!" Ren smile a even bigger smile than previously known by the brilliance scale of Ren's smiles and left. Oh! He's really, really mad cried Kyoko in her heart. "Sho, I really need to get back to work!" Kyoko turned to chase after Ren. Sho reached out and stopped her. "Kyoko I need to tell you that I love you!" Kyoko whipped around with tears, anger mixed with sadness, "Well, I don't. I don't feel like that for you anymore." With that, Kyoko went out of the spare meeting room looking for Ren. What she didn't see was how lost Sho looked with his heart ripped out. Sho went back to the elevator towards the ground floor trembling with loss.

Ren felt pain that he haven't felt since he stopped being Kuon Hizuri, the shadow of his father. This unbearable suffocation of his heart makes him want to crying out and strike out against the unfairness of the world. He moved like he has never moved before to get away from this pain. To get away from the inevitable fact that the woman he loved was in the arm of that man. The man she swore to hate and take revenge on. The man she swore to never have feelings towards after his betrayal. The man he swore to pound into the pavement next time he sees him. He let out a painful scream in the deserted parking garage.

"Tsuruga-san?" came a very small voice from down the way before the door. He turned around to the woman he loved so much that he couldn't breathe not knowing if she loves him. Kyoko half obscured by the door, said to Ren half choked "Are you alright, Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko shifted her feet uncomfortably, afraid to look up. "Don't call me Tsuruga-san anymore." said a very quiet Ren. "Yes! Ren-sama!" said Kyoko still standing half way in and half way out of the doorway. Still terrified of looking up. Still can't summon the courage to speak up. Ren stalked up to her and grabbed her wrist to pull her through the door and backed her again the parking garage wall. One hand right next to her head, and one hand tilting her head up. "I will not have you call me Ren-sama, either!" Ren looked into her eyes with so much emotion ready to spin out of control. "You will call me Ren." He lowered his head and whispered "And, you will let me call you Kyoko."

Kyoko gasped as Ren proclaimed that he will call her Kyoko, when the looks in Ren's eyes took on a very heated look as his eyes focused on her lips. His face loomed large over her and then, he possessed her. Not like the demon lord Ren to the archangel Kyoko. But, as Ren who is in love kissing his beloved Kyoko. He took possession of her lips as he hungrily consumed every inch of the plump softness. He cradled her face gently with his hands as he passionately kissed every inch of her face, her eyes, her nose, her ears. He licked her neck where it pulses and trailed the kisses up to her ear as he longed to do so again and again after the video shoot.

He crushed her against the harsh and angularness of his body. Refusing to let her have a chance to deny him, deny her, deny this, deny them as he trails more kisses down her neck to her shoulder. He suddenly let go of Kyoko, leaving her dazed and bereft of the separation between them. Before she could object, he had took hold of her hand nearly half carried her to his car. He opened the passenger side door, and pushed her in before she could object. Then, he got in on the driver side, he reached over to Kyoko and planted on her a deep kiss filled with desired and hunger before driving off with her out of the LME building.


End file.
